A father has been spared a jail sentence so he can care for his dying son.

Jason Murray's son Daniel has a terminal brain tumour which has left him less than three years to live.

A judge said the five-year-old boy could die if he was deprived of his stepfather's care and support.

Hove Crown Court was told Murray had given up his job as a head chef so he could be the main carer for Daniel.

It was his devotion to his wife and family which led him into a confrontation outside his home in Southall Avenue, Brighton, last August.

He had been chopping up vegetables in the kitchen while his wife Dale was upstairs looking after Daniel who was on a visit home from hospital.

Mrs Murray shouted to him that a man was outside hitting children and he feared his eldest son was involved.

Murray, 26, went out and confronted cyclist John Banks.

There was a scuffle between the two before Murray returned to his house to put some shoes on.

As he did so he heard his son shout that his wife was being attacked and he went out with a knife in his hand. During the confrontation which followed, Mr Banks was stabbed in the chest and shoulder, suffering a collapsed lung.

Murray told the court he had put his hand up instinctively to defend himself after Mr Banks lunged at his throat.

Murray was convicted last month of causing grievous bodily harm to Mr Banks.

However, he was cleared of the more serious charge of intending to cause grievous bodily harm.

Mr Banks, 51, of Clarendon Road, Hove, spent 16 days in hospital after he was stabbed.

He told the court: "The pain was immense. It went straight through me and I thought I was going to die."

He had stopped to tell off two boys who had knocked him off his bike and spat at him as he cycled home from Sunday lunch with his mother.

Murray was warned at the end of the trial that he faced being sent to prison.

But Judge Austin Issard-Davies said there were exceptional reasons not to jail Murray when he appeared for sentence yesterday.

Instead he gave him a two-year sentence suspended for two years.

Judge Issard-Davies said he had taken into account the "extraordinary stress" Murray was under when the stabbing happened.

The judge said: "You have been and continue to be the principal supporter for a very, very gravely ill child.

"I believe that child will suffer to such an extent, perhaps fatally, if you serve a period of incarceration and as a consequence this sentence must be suspended."